Monday, June 24, 2013

These days, 21st
century America’s version of the fountain of youth spurts forth a steady stream
of botox injections, facelifts, chemical peels and other torturous-sounding
procedures promising a grasp at a newer, younger you. Although this trend has
been many decades in the making, it really rose to public consciousness in the
self-absorbed, consumerist 1980s. However, you wouldn’t necessarily include
vampires in the target audience for discovering a youth serum - unless, of
course, you’ve seen The Hunger.

Based on a
book by Whitley Strieber (author of
Communion), The Hunger tells the story of a centuries-old female
vampire named Miriam Blaylock (played by the exquisite Catherine Deneuve), as
she deals with the sudden accelerated demise of her taken lover John (David
Bowie), who up until recently had been living alongside her, un-aged, through
several hundred years old. The bloodlust that has satiated John’s needs and
kept him pristine for centuries no longer has an affect on him, and his
weakened state becomes compromising to his necessarily violent lifestyle -- as
well as inconvenient for Miriam, who has already experienced this phenomenon
with other lovers throughout the ages.

As she
searches for ways to turn back the clock for her rapidly deteriorating lover,
Miriam comes across a doctor named Sarah (Susan Sarandon) specializing in
Hodgkins-Progeria, a medical condition with very similar qualities to the ones
John is experiencing. As time quickly runs out, John is put out to pasture with
her other, former lovers (in the attic coffin storage, naturally) and Miriam
must make the decision to take on a new partner, whom she finds in Sarah during
an erotically charged vampire seduction. But nothing is what it seems,
especially in New York in the 1980’s, and Sarah has her own plans in store for
the future.

From the opening
scenes featuring the heavily shadowed, skeletal face of gaunt goth-rocker Peter
Murphy as he sings “Bela Lugosi’s
Dead” while spasmodically dancing behind a steel grate, to the stylized
music-video-esque editing, the film has visual elements that are stunning and,
at the same time somewhat pretentious. With a decidedly 1980’s aura and a
visibly (and self-described by director Tony Scott) “operatic” feel, the whole
film might very well suffer from a case of overly tortured hip-ness if not for
the superb acting and artistic license taken with the characters and their
settings.

Yes, there are
eye-rolling eighties elements that might amuse some more sophisticated and
modern movie-goers, like the constantly billowing curtains, strobe lights, and
thick, smoky atmospheres (there is a cigarette in almost every shot, after
all), but the scenes are still filmed with a photographer’s eye -- Scott
admitting that he was heavily influenced by the works of Helmut Newton and
fellow directors like Nicolas Roeg and Stanley Kubrick. Asymmetrically balanced
shots, moody lighting and sharp angles lend a harder edge to the visuals while
subduing the more gory aspects, which are still actively present in the flowing
rivulets of bright red blood streaks throughout. Detailed but sleek wardrobes
by Italian costume designer Milena Canonero bring an air of couture-laden
fashion that aptly represents New York at that period, and the fitting
soundtrack features works by classical composers like Bach, Delibes, Schubert
and other haunting classical pieces.

The DVD special
features include an informative commentary track from director Tony Scott and
lead actress Susan Sarandon, who look back with both fond and strained memories
of the making of the film as well as the critical reaction to it following its
release.